The fabled democracy of jump racing can seem a redundant theme when so many
big races are corralled by the juggernaut stables and their millionaire
owners. Today, though, Cheltenham produced a champion for the common man, a
result for which no-one present had a sour word.

Without the Hollywood appeal of the recuperating Sprinter Sacre, there might
have been an anti-climactic feel to the BetVictor Queen Mother Champion
Chase. Instead, Sire de Grugy brought his two close families to rare heights
of emotion with a thumping victory and left an unmanly lump in the throat of
many mere observers.